Silence Penalty
Any player who is reported multiple times under the Spam or Abusive Chat categories will automatically receive a Silence Penalty. While this penalty is active, the silenced player will find that their ability to chat with others is greatly limited. Silenced Players Cannot *Use Allied Chat in-game. *Chat in Hero League Draft Lobbies. *Chat in General Chat Channels. *Chat in Custom Chat Channels. *Send Whispers to non-friends. *Play ranked games how its possible Silenced Players Can *Use Party Chat (with invited players). *Create, Suggest, and Request to Join parties. *Send and receive Friend Requests. *Send Whispers to friends. *Reply to Whispers from non-friends. *Issue in-game Pings. Penalty The first time a player is silenced, their chat will be restricted for 24 hours. This duration will double for each silence penalty received after the first, and there is no maximum. This means that players who receive multiple silence penalties may find themselves unable to chat for a very long time. Silenced players will be notified of the penalty’s remaining duration each time they log in to Heroes of the Storm, and a new icon will be displayed on their player portraits in the game’s menus to indicate their silenced status to others. Players that are in-game when they receive a silence penalty will be logged out at the end of that game, but will still gain any XP, Gold, or Ranked Points earned during the previous match. Reporting Players can report another player for various types of inappropriate behavior by clicking the gear icons found on in-game score screens (default key: TAB), as well as end-of-game score screens, and then selecting "Report Player". They can also report players outside of a match by right-clicking a player’s name in the chat pane. These reports add up, and receiving too many can result in silence, suspensions, or even permanent bans in extreme cases. Report Categories & Guidelines for Use ;Abusive Chat *Insults, cruelty, or ongoing harassment directed at one or more players. *Hate speechs. *Racial slurs. *Real life threats. ;Intentionally Feeding *Player intentionally and repeatedly gets their Hero killed in order to anger allies or feed XP to the enemy team. ;AFK/Non-Participation *Player is idle or inactive for an extended period of time during a game. *Player is present, but has given up or refuses to take part in the game. ;Cheating/Botting/Hacking *Suspicious behavior which indicates the player may be using third-party software or hack programs to gain an advantage during a game. ;Inappropriate Name *Character names or BattleTags that are offensive, insulting, bypass the mature language filter, or are otherwise considered objectionable. ;Spam *Excessively communicating the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure nonsense. *Blatant or repeated advertising for third party websites. Caveats Avid Abathur players may worry about being reported for Non-Participation, and Murky lovers may be concerned about receiving Intentional Feeding reports. However, heroes with unique mechanics are taken into account, and action will be taken accordingly. Additionally, players can rest assured that a single report from an ally who misunderstands Abathur’s playstyle, for example, will not result in any penalties against their account. Players will also be investigated who are found to frequently dish out trivial or false reports. Patch changes * External links *Official Silence Penalty blog Category:Gameplay